Jail time for failure to pay wages

Jail time for failure to pay wages

The Ministry of Labour is sending a strong message to execs who fail their employees, sending Peter Check to jail for 90 days over unpaid wages.

Check, director of Mississauga based All Pool Solution and Aquatic Pools Solutions, was also fined $15,000 and ordered to pay outstanding wages totaling more than $50,000.

The Ministry of Labour first received employment standards claims in 2007 and 2008 for unpaid wages from former employees of companies operated by Check. A number of the claimants were young people who worked as lifeguards.

An extensive investigation by Ministry of Labour employment standards officers found that wages ranging from $80 to $3,100 were owed and issued three orders to pay between December 2008 and May 2009. Despite a ministry order, the majority of the wages - about $55,000 - remain unpaid. In addition to the jail term and fines, Justice Donald Cooper ordered Check to pay the outstanding wages.

In addition to the fine, Check must pay a 25% victim fine surcharge credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

YAY!!! While jailing anyone should be our last resort it makes sense that an employer who refuses to abide by the law of the land and fails to pay minimum wage earners their hard earned wages (in this case likely all young, impressionable kids)that we make an example of this type of employer to send a message both to him and to others that the minimum wage laws in Ontario will be respected or else. Well done EPB!!!

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